Corruption and dissolution

The Latvian president’s first-time request to dissolve the Parliament is “a new opportunity for Latvia” headline Diena. Announced in a speech on May 28, President Valdis Zatlers “has taken an unprecedented step in our nation’s history,” the Riga daily writes, publishing a front-page photo of demonstrators, shortly after the speech, in support of Zatlers. The president says he is motivated by a desire to fight corruption in Parliament, which recently refused to lift the parliamentary immunity of Ainārs Šlesers, leader of the Latvia’s First Party/Latvian Way (LPP/LC). Šlesers is under investigation by the anti-corruption Bureau. Voters will be called to the ballot boxes in the next two months for a referendum vote on the dissolution of Parliament. If the yes vote wins - a foregone conclusion, according to Diena – elections will be held in late August or early September. If the no vote wins, President Zatlers will have to resign. The most recent general elections were held in October 2010.